Texas Retail Provider Announces Partnership To Integrate Batteries With Residential Electricity Plans, Will Allow REP To Create VPP, Bid Into ERCOT

Octopus Energy U.S. today announced a new partnership with Enphase Energy, Inc., a supplier of microinverter-based solar and battery systems, "to integrate household solar and batteries in energy plans and create a Virtual Power Plant in Texas."

"Octopus Energy customers now have the opportunity to integrate Enphase home solar and battery solutions in their energy plan to unlock low-cost residential energy rates. As part of the agreement, Octopus Energy will be able to flexibly control the customer's battery to reduce usage when the grid is the most constrained and help save customers hundreds of dollars each year," Octopus said

"With Kraken Flex, Octopus Energy’s proprietary software platform for managing, controlling, and optimizing Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), Octopus Energy plans to create a Virtual Power Plant with the Enphase home battery systems, and will be bidding these DERs in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) ancillary markets, a first of its kind for these assets. Octopus Energy can optimize how a customer’s battery interacts with the electric grid through Intelligent Octopus, its smart device retail energy plan, customers can access the cheapest retail rates," Octopus said

"As Octopus Energy expands its retail energy presence to states outside of Texas, Octopus Energy hopes to take advantage of this partnership, which both reduces costs for customers and promotes a cleaner grid," Octopus said

"Load flexibility creates enormous value in high-renewable energy grids and energy retailers have a unique ability to customize electric rates for customers, so this a perfect opportunity to integrate the value of demand response into a retail product to create the cheapest rates for customers. Retailers have the opportunity to lead the energy transition by combining customer-centric product offerings, modern technology, and rate-making authority to create products that lower costs and truly lower carbon," said Michael Lee, CEO of Octopus Energy U.S.